Let's avoid making the humble poppy a far-right symbol

Let's Avoid Making the Humble Poppy a Far-Right Symbol

Perhaps I have been unaware, but neither I nor my friends and acquaintances knew that the symbolic poppy has been taken over by the far right. This realization came after reading Neil Mackay's article published on November 6, "The poppy has been hijacked by the far right – this is why I won’t wear it."

Memories of War and Family Sacrifice

My late father survived the Normandy landings. His own father was wounded at Passchendaele by a shell explosion and sent to the Netley receiving hospital on Southampton Water. There, he refused to have his legs amputated and went through twelve other hospitals before returning to fight again, enduring all kinds of weather in his kilt.

When he died, he still carried a fragment of shrapnel dangerously close to his spine and a cavity in his body that one could fit a fist into. His resilience and loyalty to duty remain unforgettable.

A Legacy of Service and Loss

My mother’s boyfriend perished at sea when HMS Kite was torpedoed in 1944, a story my father recounted only recently. The loss marked her life permanently — a reminder of how many lives were shaped by the war’s unseen scars.

Honoring Tradition and Memory

My father instilled in me respect for remembrance traditions, the Earl Haig Fund, and the significance of wearing the poppy as a symbol of gratitude and remembrance.

“Lest we forget.”

I remember him standing silently every year on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, tears in his eyes during that single minute of remembrance.

Author’s Summary

The poppy should remain a universal emblem of remembrance and sacrifice, not an emblem for any political movement.

The Herald — 2025-11-07